Can Direct Admissions Benefit Everyone?

After years of industry upheaval, changes are being made to the way students apply and are admitted into institutions. Direct admissions may help schools overcome the impending enrollment cliff while negating the hesitancy some students have about applying in the first place.

According to Monty Hays, a counselor at Idaho’s Deary High School, there are four major reasons a high school senior might not apply to an institution of higher education: fear of the financial burden, burnout, a belief college is unnecessary and hesitations about the amount of work it will entail once they’ve begun attending. 

Cory Fortin, a college counselor at Parma High School, Idaho, adds a fifth. 

“I think students have a lot of self-doubt about gaining admission to college,” she said. “Students still believe cost is an issue they can’t overcome, but they also just believe they aren’t college material for various reasons.” 

Idaho Leading the Way

Since 2015, Idaho has been helping negate imposter syndrome among high school seniors by notifying them directly of six or more in-state schools to which they have been automatically accepted, even before applying. In 2017, the program was expanded to include physical letters from the state in a successful push to boost engagement, and during the pandemic, the program’s online functionalities were further improved.

“Direct admissions further enforces our message that, yes, they can go to college,” said Fortin. “Seniors haven’t even started applying, and they are seeing that they are going to be accepted to a fairly long list of colleges. Many students and families didn’t realize that even with a low GPA, they would be accepted to college. Direct admissions takes away this barrier.” 

Several states, including Washington, Hawaii and Minnesota, have adopted similar programs. In addition, many individual institutions across the country also have introduced modified direct admissions processes to fit their unique needs. 

Idaho’s program remains the most expansive, going so far as to include a suite of tools to help high school counselors advise their mentees about how to get the most out of direct admissions opportunities. 

According to Fortin, the counselor suite is incredibly useful. 

“I used to just have to trust everything that students told me they had done,” he said. “For example, I can see if a student has started the FAFSA, but they haven’t submitted it yet. Sometimes, students don’t realize they haven’t done everything, so I am better able to support them.” 

The suite also allows counselors to track other items, such as whether students have begun and submitted the state’s eight scholarships and grants.

A Win-Win-Win

“I don’t find any drawbacks [with direct admissions programs] at this point,” said Dr. Tracy Sheetz, vice president of enrollment at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington. 

Direct admissions seem to show the most promise for student groups who have self-selected out of the application process. “Students who’ve quietly opted out of pursuing college could get motivated by this sort of news–it’s meant to spark conversation with family, a school counselor, a trusted friend,” said Kelly Talbert, director of admissions at Boise State University. 

According to a 2023 study by Taylor Olde of the University of Wisconsin Madison and Dr. Jennifer Delaney out of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, students offered direct admissions that included a proactive nudge, fee waiver and simplified application were 12.7% more likely to apply, especially if they were first-generation college students, racially minoritized or low-income. 

Though the study is experimental, according to its authors, and was conducted only in the four U.S. states with proactive direct admissions of some kind (i.e., Idaho, Hawaii, Minnesota and Washington), it gels with an earlier, 2020 policy brief by the same authors, who drew on a large body of research. 

According to the brief, which examined direct admissions data in Idaho between 2015 and 2020, more than 87,000 students entered college via direct admissions, “[reversing] declining post-secondary enrollments and out-of-state migration.” Additionally, direct admissions proved to be a cost-effective method of reducing equity gaps when compared to other options, such as grants and mentoring. 

As early as 2016, Idaho reported a 3.1% increase in overall college enrollment and a 6.7% increase in the number of high school graduates entering directly into college. By 2017, applications had increased 88%, and cumulative enrollment was up 6.7%. Interestingly, 3% fewer students were leaving the state to attend college elsewhere. Finally, in 2019, overall undergraduate enrollment had increased by 11%. 

Reporting from college admissions experts also supports the data. 

“The primary benefit is an increase in enrollment,” said Washington and Jefferson College’s Sheetz. “Many [students] express how they appreciated the process and the confidence it gave them.” 

“I was originally going to enroll in the Job Corp, to learn a trade in the computer science field,” said Rian Isaak, a freshman directly admitted into Boise State University this fall. “I decided to go to college because it was always a dream of mine as a kid, but I felt I couldn’t because of my neurodevelopmental disability.” 

Isaak is currently majoring in computer science but has found other opportunities on campus that might otherwise not have been available to her. 

“My college experience has been life-changing for me,” she said. In addition to taking classes, she also works an on-campus tech job that gives her practical experience in her preferred field of study. 

Meanwhile, Maritza Duendas, a freshman directly admitted to the University of Idaho this fall, has found that college has opened important social doors. 

“I have a strong support network,” she said. “Special shout out and a giant thank you to Jesse Martinez and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. They created a program called the Diversity Scholars that provides support for students of color, [students with] disabilities, LGBTQ+ students and many others.” 

“I genuinely didn’t know if I would go to college because online schooling [during COVID] was awful for me,” said Duendas. “I’m glad the pandemic ended long enough for me to go to university though. I’m really enjoying it up in Moscow.” 

Is Retention Greater?

Washington and Jefferson College, which began directly admitting students this year, is monitoring retention data to track whether directly admitted students remain enrolled at the same rates as traditionally admitted students. 

However, there seems to be little evidence to suggest the success of directly admitted students would not be comparable to the rates of those students admitted traditionally. “I have no reason to believe there would be any difference in retention or overall success,” Sheetz said. “The students admitted through the direct admissions process still provide official transcripts and documentation and meet all of the admissions requirements.” 

According to Talbert, pre-COVID research conducted by Boise State University suggests a similar conclusion. 

“Our existing research suggests that whether a student was admitted via Idaho Campus Choice or through our institutional application, their ability to be successful here is certainly related closely with their academic performance in high school,” said Talbert. “And this does not change based on the method they used to apply to the university.”

Where to Next?

While direct admissions programs are ongoing in Idaho, Hawaii, Minnesota and Washington, whether they will be adopted nationwide has yet to be seen. Georgia, New York and Wisconsin all began direct admissions programs this fall, with legislation circulating in other states and individual institutions as well, some with the assistance of third parties, according to the 2023 Delaney and Odle study. 

In 2021, the State of Illinois General Assembly introduced bill SB1639, which would establish a statewide direct admissions program. Though not currently state law, some Illinois universities have implemented modified direct admissions systems of their own. 

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, for instance, offers direct admissions into its business, education, nursing, pharmacy and other programs. Eligible students entering these programs via direct admissions must still submit an undergraduate admissions application but are then permitted to skip other program-specific requirements.

South Dakota implemented direct admissions in 2018 but discontinued the program during the pandemic. However, COVID’s disruption to the rising popularity of direct admissions may also have had an unexpected benefit. 

“Prior to the pandemic, colleges and universities were leaning into test-optional policies,” said Sheetz. “Then COVID-19 tipped the scales, and test-optional became a more common practice across the board. This required us to change the playbook and step away from the traditional ways of reaching our market.” 

Hence, direct admissions. 

“We heard the impressive outcomes from the institutions that participated in the initial pilot program and from students and parents,” Sheetz added. 

“I think direct admissions initiatives are a terrific way for a state to collectively identify and eliminate barriers to entry for future college students (and ultimately, its future skilled workforce),” said Talbert. “However, given the vast scope of colleges nationwide and their differences in selectivity level, institutional goals, etc. I am not convinced that a national system would be viable.” 

On the other hand, although a nationwide system might be viable, according to Sheetz, certain institutions might wish to opt out of participating. 

“That would be dependent on the requirements for admissions and the ability of the direct admissions partner or process to provide a sophisticated tool to detect a student’s realization of a requirement,” she said.

Others have agreed.

“I do believe direct admissions would be viable in any state, especially those looking to increase access and opportunity for high school graduates,” said Corey Zink, associate vice president for enrollment management at Idaho State University. 

The data tells a nuanced story. Between 2015 and 2020, nearly 87,000 students were admitted to institutions of higher education via direct admissions, according to the 2020 Delaney and Odle policy briefing. 

In Idaho, the program would not have functioned without universal SAT testing, a requirement for high school graduation in the state, the authors said. A single state agency has access to a student’s GPA, SAT and ACT scores and transcripts, which allows quick and accurate data compilation. 

“Because the state already collects this data, state-level data sharing offers a large efficiency improvement over a traditional admissions system that has each individual student find and select colleges, then fill out this same information on each college application,” reads the Delaney and Odle brief. 

“Many of my students are first-generation and/or low-income,” said Parma High School’s Fortin. “Direct admissions reinforces the message that we want them to know of, ‘Yes, you are college material!’”

However, direct admissions programs are not a panacea, cautioned Zink: “The barriers that might remain include that college is still too expensive as direct admissions can produce a false hope of the institution ‘funding my degree.’”